MLB.com's Carrie Muskat has been covering Major League Baseball since 1981 and is the author of "Banks to Sandberg to Grace: Five Decades of Love and Frustration with the Cubs." You can follow her on Twitter @CarrieMuskat. Here, she blogs about the Cubs.

10/30 Free agency begins

Carlos Pena, John Grabow, Reed Johnson, Rodrigo Lopez, Ramon Ortiz and Kerry Wood were among the 148 Major League players who filed for free agency on Sunday. Teams have until Thursday at 12:01 a.m. ET (11:01 p.m. CT Wednesday) to exclusively negotiate with their own free agents. If an agreement isn’t reached by that point, players are free to sign with any team.

Meta

The following are trademarks or service marks of Major League Baseball entities and may be used only with permission of Major League Baseball Properties, Inc. or the relevant Major League Baseball entity: Major League, Major League Baseball, MLB, the silhouetted batter logo, World Series, National League, American League, Division Series, League Championship Series, All-Star Game, and the names, nicknames, logos, uniform designs, color combinations, and slogans designating the Major League Baseball clubs and entities, and their respective mascots, events and exhibitions.